Aspen Ideas to Go

Thanks to technology, we are more connected than ever—digitally. But at what cost? How have technologies, like online dating sites and apps like Tinder, changed attitudes and behaviors? How do we choose a partner and stay interested when we have an almost infinite world of choices at our fingertips? Will marriage become a thing of the past? Match.com’s Chief Scientific Advisor Helen Fisher joins Eric Klinenberg, co-author of Modern Romance, and Christie Hefner, former CEO of Playboy Enterprises for a conversation about technology’s toll on intimacy.

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The world is more complex and volatile today than at any other time in modern history. In order to successfully navigate a rapidly changing world, author and MIT Media Lab Director, Joichi “Joi” Ito says you must be alert and nimble. In his book Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future, he writes the people who succeed will be the ones who learn to think differently. In this conversation with Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson, Ito talks about how President Trump’s ability to be agile helped him win the White House. Ito also discusses the problem of fake news and what his organization is doing to combat it.

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As the US continues to grapple with issues of race, history is proving to be an invaluable tool to underscore and discuss uncomfortable truths still governing the dynamics of race. How can history help us face and overcome troubling truths? Bryan Stevenson, founder and director of the Equal Justice Initiative, speaks with Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust about his organization’s efforts to build a museum examining the legacy of slavery, racial terrorism, segregation, and police violence. Stevenson says it’s time to change the narrative and it starts with America owning up to its history.

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Author and former labor union leader Andy Stern thinks universal basic income is the key to solving problems plaguing America’s economy. He wrote about it in his book Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream. As technology takes over jobs humans used to do, the old idea is gaining new attention. Universal basic income has been supported by Martin Luther King, Jr., Charles Murray, Robert Reich, and Milton Friedman. Stern lays out why it’s the right economic policy for a modern United States.

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How are diet and lifestyle linked to bacterial communities in the gut? How can growing knowledge about gut health be used to develop new therapies? Researchers are learning how the gut microbiome responds to the food we eat, influencing obesity, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular disease, and even mental health. Trillions of bacteria inhabit the human gut, working in close and complex symbiosis with our cells. Novel analytic methods offer new insights about those biochemical interactions, and help us understand how they impact well-being. When it comes to a healthy body and mind, an increasing number of people are focusing on improving bacteria in the gut.

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Those who study human behavior have learned that simply by encouraging—or “nudging”—individuals toward the right decisions for themselves, dramatic improvements can be made. Cultural commentator David Brooks and Cass Sunstein, legal scholar and the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School, discuss the power of “nudge” and how, broadly implemented, it can be a force for substantial change.

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In these final days of Barack Obama’s presidency, we consider how the future will view his leadership. Will economic recovery and health care victories at home be overshadowed by what many see as his failure to intervene meaningfully in conflicts abroad? Critics on the left wish the president had gone further on several key issues, while critics on the right have little good to say about Obama’s governance. With an approval rating of 55 percent, the highest it’s been in years, President Obama seems poised to leave office on a high note. But what will the history books say?

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What actually happens to the brain when we meditate? Published studies have documented the many physical and mental health benefits of meditation, including decreased pain, better immune function, less anxiety and depression, a heightened sense of well-being, and greater happiness and emotional self-control. Imaging studies show, with meditation there’s increased activity in brain regions associated with attention, a higher volume of grey matter, and lessened amygdala response to emotional stimuli. In this episode meditation teacher and director of the David Lynch Foundation Bob Roth talks with documentary filmmaker Perri Peltz about the scientific case for taking up meditation.

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“I spent the first half of my life being afraid,” says Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of the bestselling memoir of transgender experience, She’s Not There, “and the second half telling people to be brave.” In this episode, Boylan opens up about her battle with suicide, how society treats her differently as a female, and the power of love and family. She talks about living life as a father for six years, a mother for twelve, and neither for a few years in between. She’s interviewed by Kirsten Powers, a Fox News contributor.

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Author and New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman says the world has entered an age of dizzying acceleration, and in this episode, he explains how to live in it. His latest book Thank you for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations delves into mega changes in terms of computing power, the global economy, and the environment. How do these changes interact? How do we keep up with a quickly changing world? Friedman discusses his book with Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson. Their conversation is part of the Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book Series at the Institute.

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